A Christmas for Cain
by MsJezebel
Summary: It seems as though the Earl is having extended ghostly visits. Ch 2: Cain is woken up in the dead of the night of Christmas day due to a ghost showing up late. Much bickering and late night photo scavenging! All in Crehador's room.
1. Cain's Sock

**A Christmas for Cain**

To: Godchild Fans Fr: MsJezebel

Disclaimer: I do not own Cain Saga nor Godchild but I am waiting for the last volume to come out here.

-+Cain's Christmas Eve+-

In Cain's manor, the hearth was warming and sounds of carols were being sung outside. Riff was helping some of the maids hang some ornaments on the Christmas tree. Young Mary Weather hurried down the stairs.

"Hurry Riff! I've finally finished knitting our stockings. See? It's got our names embroidered on them!" chirped Mary excitedly. She threw down her yarn balls and knitting needles onto an open armchair.

Cain heard the stomping and snuck up behind Mary.

"And what, pray tell, are _these_?" asked Cain incredulously as he picked up a very haphazard-looking sock. There were many holes in them due to the threads not being pulled tightly. The embroidered names were barely legible.

"Who's 'Coln'?" asked Cain again.

Mary immediately swiped the stockings from him. Hugging her creations to her chest she retorted, "It says Cain! I just forgot to fix the 'a' and to add a dot above the 'i'!"

Cain smiled mischievously as he saw Mary blush. "So those are supposed to be stockings? I was afraid you brought home some runned-over animals."

As Riff continued helping the maids set up the Christmas tree, he watched from his step ladder as little Mary Weather chased her older brother with her knitting needles. And knitting needles are bigger than a sewing needle.

"I'll teach you to make fun of my knitting Cain!!!"

"I was just joking Mary Weather! Now quit it!" yelled Cain. Even he was afraid of needles. Mary was about to jump on her brother's back and give him a good beating but Cain dodged at the last second.

"Oomph! Oh, CAIN YOU JERK! Ow!" moaned Mary as she massaged her head. But looking down, she saw an older man's shoes. Slowly her blue eyes traveled upwards.

"Are you hurt Miss Mary Weather?" asked Crehador. He pulled her up onto her feet.

"N-no, I'm alright! Thank you Mr.Crehador!" said Mary, blushing a shade of red that matched her frilly dress.

"Mary, must you blush?" asked Cain, pretending not to notice her eyes shooting daggers at him, he turned to Crehador. "So what brings YOU here? Handouts for the poor is down the street."

Crehador closed his eyes and took off his cloak. "Well for your information Cain Hargreaves, I was just passing by. I wouldn't come _here_ on a cold winter day otherwise," finished the young magician with a smug note in his voice.

'This guy needs to be knocked down a few pegs,' thought Cain with a frown on his face. "Well? Care to tell us what you want? And I don't suggest you finish taking off your hat because I won't allow you to stay here."

Crehador smirked. "What's this? Earl Cain is also Mr. Scrooge? It took me hours to get here and I have had to walk quite a distance because the horses couldn't go through this snow. I-I had no breakfast this morning nor any lunch. Will you really let me go home without some food?"

And this he aimed at Mary, making sure he gave her his best poor-man smile. Mary of course, fell for it.

"Of course not! Mr. Crehador, please stay here!" insisted Mary, with sparkles in her eyes. Cain shuddered at how that Crehador can work his magic on girls.

"Grr… WHO ARE YOU CALLING SCROOGE?! You're even stingier about money than I am! Mary, you've exhausted my idiocy-tolerance policy when you invited that Witch Doctor last time but don't think I'll let this penny-pincher into my house!"

And with that, Cain turned on his heel and marched upstairs. He threw open the door to his private study room. He locked the door and stomped straight for his desk. He plumped himself down onto his chair and without looking, rummaged around for his old wooden box.

He flipped the lid open and dumped all his chocolate candy onto his desk.

"It's Christmas and everyone down there is a jerk! Why I've-" and Cain pops a chocolate truffle into his mouth, "never acted like Scrooge in my life! I've-," and the Earl pops some chocolate malts into his mouth, " even paid that penny-pincher more than his fill for just getting me information on Delilah!!!"

As the evening wore on, the servants kept knocking on his door. Each time Cain would open it and throw candy at them. Riff, worried about the fire in the study going out, tried to force the door. But Cain barricaded the door with his Victorian couch.

In fact, the young Earl was lying on the couch to insure that his door doesn't open. With his feet propped onto the couch's armrest, he watched snowflakes drift down a silent black sky…

Cain tried to slap away the cold hand that was shaking him. But it felt like his hand just slapped cold air. Thinking that he left the window open, he eased himself up. With his jet black hair askew, he rubbed his eyes. Then suddenly a pale face came into view.

"Well finally! I thought you'd never wake up!" exclaimed a young handsome man with hair up to his chin. But his voice had an echo to it. Looking down, he saw that the man had no feet.

Cain blinked. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Jeez Cain, you remember me right? It's me, Gilford," said the young man. He shook his head and looked at his childhood best friend. Or ex-childhood best friend after Cain discovered that he was the one who tricked Meridiana into suicide.

Cain coughed and tried to sit upright. But his legs were trembling. "T-this has got to be a hoax! How can you still be alive Gilford? Y-you d-died in Cain Saga volume 4! I saw it!"

The ghostly figure of Gilford rolled his eyes. "I think I would know that. And this isn't a hoax, I'm a ghost. And to be exact, I'm the Ghost of Christmas."

"EXCUSE ME?!!" roared Cain, forgetting to be scared of ghosts.

"I'm sure your hearing hasn't gone Cain. Now stop being a scaredy-cat and come with me."

"To where? And this has got to be a projection from somewhere…" said Cain aloud, hoping to find a projector light coming from a wall.

"Well, this should prove it!" laughed Gilford as he pulled Cain by the hand up into the midnight sky. They swirled around for a moment and landed smack dab next to a small house.

"Blurgh! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!!!" yelled Cain, as he involuntarily barfed near the window.

The ghost of Gilford smiled benignly. "No, I am back to who I really am. Which Mary Weather showed me when she let me play with her. But enough about me Cain, take a look into that window."

Cain gave one more fierce look at Gilford and approached the window. It had a few candles lit, most were already little stumps of wax. His eyes made out a very small Christmas tree.

Turning from the window, he looked at Gilford. "Well? So the Christmas tree is small, what do you want me to do about that?"

Gilford's smile turned small as he said, "It's actually Christmas Eve. Do you see any presents there? Or stockings?"

Once again, the Earl observed around the room. He kept having this feeling like he's seen this place before… Cain saw that there weren't any presents under the tree. There wasn't any ornaments on the tree for that matter. With reluctance, he looked at the bare board above the fireplace. Not a stocking in sight.

Then suddenly, he heard a young girl's voice. Quickly, Cain ducked down.

"There's no need to do that, she can't see you," said Gilford as he hovered nearer the window.

Cain frowned. Thinking he'd just take a quick glance, popped his head up again. But his eyes couldn't turn away. The young girl looked about 5 years old, wearing a white nightgown with patches here and there. She had put the candle down and sat before the little Christmas tree.

Her head was bowed down and prayer and she asked, "I hope that someday you will let me, at least once, have enough threads to make a stocking. Mama says we can't afford to spare any socks for Santa to put goodies in but maybe next year will be better. I hope Santa will leave something here for me but I guess he won't since we didn't make any cookies. Well, it was nice talking to You and I've got to go before I get into trouble. In Heaven's name I pray, Amen."

Cain stood transfixed long after the younger Mary Weather blew out her candle. Then a hand was on his shoulder. Turning around, Cain saw that Gilford was looking at him sadly.

"It's time to go back."

The Earl slowly looked back through the window, and stared at the spot Mary had just left. Then his eyes widened. He quickly put his hands in his pockets and pulled out the chocolates he left in there.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing?!!" yelled Gilford as he zoomed in after Cain. Cain had removed his own custom-made silk socks and hooked it onto a spare nail on the fireplace. He shoved all the chocolates into it.

"While that's hear-warming, it's a little gross," remarked Gilford, smiling nonetheless.

"Just shut up! It's one thing spooking me in the middle of the night, and quite another taking me here to peep on my little sister's past," replied Cain, smoothing back his hair.

"Whatever you say Earl Cain."

-+Cain's Christmas Day+-

"Oi! Wake up Crehador!!!"

Crehador fell onto the floor, dragging his bed sheets and blanket with him. He untangled himself and prepared to throw a pillow at whoever woke him up.

"Finally! Now hurry and get yourself dressed. My carriage ain't waiting all day!" called Cain, his breath coming out in white puffs in the early winter morning.

"WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?!!"

"Your welcome!" replied Cain, laughing as he made room for Crehador to sit in. "Sorry about yesterday, I was just pissed about you calling me Scrooge."

As Crehador became more and more weirded out by Cain's enthusiastic manner, they arrived at Cain's manor.

Riff, not to mention Mary Weather, were all shocked to hear such merriment in the Earl's voice. As the day wore on into night, they exchanged presents and bid farewell to Crehador.

Soon, only Cain and Mary Weather were sitting up in the living room. As the clock was ready to strike 12, Mary took down Cain's stocking and gave it to him.

Taking Mary into his lap, Cain looked questioningly down at the red sock. He reached into the stocking and pulled out a couple of chocolate candies. He looked up to find that Mary was waiting to see his response.

"I know it's weird but ever since I was 5 years old, I've always put chocolates in stockings for Christmas. One Christmas day, I found a nice black sock on my fireplace. It had some chocolates in it. And it wasn't exactly what I wanted but well, I guess I really loved it. And I know that it's just candy but-"

But Mary Weather didn't finish her sentence. Cain pulled her closer into his arms and placed his soft chin on her head.

"Happy Christmas my little Mary Weather."

The End

I was going to do a whole parody on "A Christmas Carol" but it would've been too hard to come up with 2 more ghosts. But I hope you like this little Christmas fic, although Gilford is a hardly used character even though he's cute and was the main "bad guy" for half of Cain Saga. Please review!

Cain: Happy Christmas to everyone too! And don't you Americans laugh and say, "Merry Halloween" to me!


	2. What the Earl Saw

**A Christmas for Cain**

Originally this was a oneshot fic with 3 ghosts like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. But Gilford's part of the story was too long so I just wrapped up the endingXO **Dark Mage Makai** suggested that I expand this story. This is an alternate storyline after the fall of Delilah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cain Saga and Godchild, but Kaori Yuki sure does.

- Christmas Day's night -

In a deep green armchair were two sleeping figures. Cain's raven hair mingled above his little sister's golden hair. The light from the fire was still strong, what with their earlier celebration being only a few hours ago. The 17-year-old Earl fluttered one eye open.

And he'll wish that he'd never had eyes.

At first all he saw was a lot of wavy hair. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Cain would've screamed like a girl, if the haughty ghost hadn't cut him off that is.

"Finally! I thought I would have to walk _through_ you to wake you up!" snarled the ghostly figure of a young woman, with what used to be long purple hair.

Not that Cain was listening. In a strained whisper, since he didn't want 2 girls yelling at him, he said, "E-emmeline! Why?! You should be-?"

"I should be what, Cain Hargreaves?!" retorted Emmeline, immediately putting her face right in front of him, hands on hips. Her voice, while faint, echoed sharply.

Unlike with Gilford, Cain actually felt guilty for being the cause of Emmeline's premature death. He visited her grave everyday that he could. Her grave was in the Hargreaves family plot (vol.4). "Emmeline, is there something you need? Or… have you come for me?"

Emmeline Lauderdale's lip curled as she slowly stood up straight. With a ghostly sigh (pun intended), she crossed her arms. "Cain, you idiot. Stop acting so serious. Hasn't my brother, Gilford, visited you already?"

His eyebrows scrunched together as he slowly put two and two together. "Yes, just last night he took me on a ghastly (pun again) journey back in the past. Not to mention that it was my little sister's past," Cain paused for a second and then asked, "Are you here to be the Ghost of Christmas present?"

"Well, I'm a bit late since I didn't feel like seeing you," said Emmeline in a less-than-convincing angry voice. She averted her eyes away from Cain's golden ones and added, "But yes, I'm here to present to you the present (pun pun!) of someone who is er, a close acquaintance of yours."

Cain was already over his guilt trip and hissed his answer ungentleman-like, "Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! N-o, no Emmeline! I don't want to see anyone's past, or present, and especially not their future!!"

Emmeline swung her hand right through her ex-fiance, sending chills up and down Cain's spine. "It's too late for that! I'm here, I have a mission, and you'd better do what I say Cain!"

The clock's minute hand was past the 30 mark when Cain finally gave into Emmeline's plans. The two bickered like they used to with their witty remarks. He grabbed his coat and with a scowl on his face, silently bid his warm home good-bye.

_Damn you house, why can't you be ghost-proof!_ thought Cain as he grouchily held onto Emmeline's hand.

If someone were to look outside their window (_Heaven forbid _thought Cain), he or she would see a young man dressed in deep red cotton pajamas, soaring like Wendy did with Peter Pan. Against the night sky, the Earl looked to his right, and smiled wistfully at the white shade of blush on Emmeline's cheek… combined with the most irritated look she could muster.

It was just too cute.

In a deliberately derisive tone, Cain broke the silence. "Well, well, Lady Emmeline. The last time I talked to you, you were wearing equestrian clothing and now you've went and gotten some flying lessons on me!"

Emmeline brought them to an abrupt stop, causing Cain's legs to swing from under him. "You, you haven't changed a bit. Tsk, it's such an insult that you treat my _gravestone_ more kindly than you do me. This is _exactly_ why you'll need 3 ghosts!" she spat, glowering at Cain.

"Three ghosts? You and Gilford are enough. And just what do you mean by 'exactly'? What am I '_exactly_'?"

Emmeline took a deep breath. When she looked up, she smirked evilly at him. "If you can't figure it out, I'm afraid you'll be haunted forever… or worse..."

Once again, the two quarreled the whole way towards a brick town house on the outskirts of the city. Emmeline told Cain to shutup as they hovered near the only lit window. The candle's flame flickered when Emmeline drew closer.

Cain cocked an eyebrow at her, and rested his elbows carelessly on the window sill. Just to mock Emmeline's dramatic presentation, he pouted and said, "Great, another poor house. I would fix the holes if I'd remember to bring my toolkit."

Which earned Cain another set of chills, making his skin get all goose-bumpy. The young woman took the moment to kick her ex-fiance's rearend inside. He tumbled ungracefully onto the flat of his back. He sat up and was about to yell a few curses at her but found that she had disappeared.

"Peek-a-boo!" squealed Emmeline, her ghostly figure right behind him as she bent over to face him upside down (please check out my devart account to see my fanart of this).

Or not. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU FLOATING TART!!" yelled Cain, scrambling up. But Emmeline laughed as she disappeared in and out of sight in front of him.

Cain watched as Emmeline headed toward a heavily curtained bed. She pulled out a dark velvet book from under the blanket. He took a quick look around, seeing that the room was richly adorned, with drapes on the bed and Victorian sofas. And he also saw a very familiar money-bag on the stand.

"CREHADOR!! We're in that penny-pincher's _room_???"

The ghostly woman frowned. "Took you long enough. But never mind the room, I want you to take a look at this photo album."

Pictures were a luxurious privilege and only the wealthy could afford it. It was a fairly new innovation from having to wait long hours for a portrait to be painted. With his pale hands, Cain handled the black and white photos with care.

Her once deep blue eyes gazed at Cain as he slowly read the writing on the back of the photo.

Me and my beloved Shela

December 13, 1908.

Together, the two silently went over each photo, putting the pieces of Crehador's past to the present. He met her after he left his cold mansion. The pictures of him and his mother totaled about 5, quite a lot during that time. His smile was much more warm but his later photographs were bare of emotion as he performed magic tricks in disguise. But in the recent photos, his smile grew bigger in each one as he stood next to Shela.

"This is Shela. The woman he sought to avenge."

A hint of a smile rose on Emmeline's face. "Yes, as you know, Crehador's skills were recognized by your father. But even Alexis couldn't persuade him to join Delilah. As he continued to watch out for Delilah, he refused the sentiments of being together with the one he loved in order to protect her. So he would often treat her indifferently, despite the fact he frequently paid for her 'services'. Not that he touched her rudely."

Cain looked from Emmeline's beautiful and strong eyes… to the woman's in the photo. _They're too alike. Even in the fact they fell in love with cold-hearted men._

Guilt pulled Cain's eyes downcast, his eyebrows pointed upward together as if to plead the heavens. The moon glowed behind the Earl, giving more light to his golden eyes. "Crehador and I are both fools. In the end, we couldn't protect what was important to us."

A photo went flying towards Cain's forehead. "OUCH!!"

"JUST WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU?!! That wasn't the point I was trying to make! But yes, you are a fool if I ever did lay eyes on one!!!"

"Just what the heck are you talking about woman?! I'm over here, feeling sorry for you, the woman, and even that Crehador, and you go and fling a projectile at me. Jeez."

She yelled, "It's because you're not realizing that you've already made up for your EARLIER idiocy when you solved the Jack the Ripper case and so all your guilt now is perfectly POINTLESS!"

"WELL THEN! I suppose I'll go and pretend to be happy, even though solving that case didn't bring you back to life."

Cain was breathing quickly after yelling like that. As he lifted up his gaze, he saw Emmeline's sad smile. Their eyes met and a mutual understanding passed between them.

And this time, it was Emmeline who broke the silence. "Cain, I hope I don't have to tell you what you need to do."

The Earl of many maiden's hearts (and some guy's) regained his mischievousness. "That I need to stop being such a cold-hearted bastard and start giving free hand-outs to Crehador?"

The young woman sighed incredulously. "Good enough I suppose."

In the dawn's early light, Cain moved towards Emmeline, and placed his hands around where her waist would be. "Merry Christmas my Ice Princess."

With a sidelong look at him, she replied mysteriously, "You've still got one more visitor tonight."

* * *

So that was the 2nd ghost! I'm going to revise the 1st chapter to have Gilford down as the ghost of Christmas past. Thanks to Dark Mage Makai for giving me Shela's name (I don't have GC v.6) and those who have read this belated chappie, hopefully I've portrayed these two genuinely (and it's kinda in time for Valentine's) and please review too! 


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